FDR Inaugural Speech of 1933 Given New Meaning by Modern Psychiatry
By Michael Bresciani (02/13/07)
Modern psychiatry has given teeth to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s most
often quoted line from his inaugural speech of March 4, 1933. Is it
semantics or medical terminology, lets see.
Roosevelt said “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the
only thing we have to fear is fear itself…” Source: Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933, as published in Samuel Rosenman, ed.,
The Public Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Volume Two: The Year of
Crisis, 1933 (New York: Random House, 1938), 11–16.
Modern psychiatry puts all phobias into three general categories although
there are hundreds of different phobias within each category.
Panic attacks are usually thought of as irrational anxiety and are
referred to as agoraphobia. Fear related to certain social situations that
causes avoidance behavior is called social phobia. Specific phobias make
up the final category and this is fear of specific stimuli which can be
anything from bugs to moonbeams.
One of the most recent additions to the list of phobias has used
Roosevelt’s concept to help name what might be thought of as the king of
phobias. It is called phobiaphobia. Yes, it is a legitimate term and just
as it seems to imply, it is the fear of fear!
Naming fears may be useful for psychiatry but the terms are often borrowed
by other disciplines and social groups to thwart, deny, or establish
certain codes of behavior or to condemn them.
One example that of late that has come into vogue is the term homophobia.
Anyone expressing disdain for the homosexual lifestyle is quickly labeled
a homophobic. That label is usually accompanied by a certain stigma as if
there is something wrong with the homophobic. That unspecified stigma
produces fear usually in the homosexual. Here is a conundrum but it is not
as mysterious as it seems.
The fear of homosexuals is an objective fear. The fear of the fear of
homosexuals is purely subjective. Outlining the dangers or the parameters
of a subjective fear is almost impossible. Conversely defining the nature
of an objective fear is much easier.
In plain English the fear of homosexuality has tangibility. The fear of
the fear of homosexuality (phobiaphobia) does not. The only way this can
make sense is to put it in the common vernacular. Simply stated the only
thing a homosexual actually has to fear is that the fears of the
homophobic might actually be real. So what is that reality?
Most psychiatry concurs that the first step in dealing with a phobia is
the ability to identify it. Leaving denial behind, if most people were
asked what they fear about homosexuality the answers would be pretty much
the same. A diversion from the natural and a threat to societal norms as
well as a threat to the very ongoing of civilization itself (as in the
inability to procreate) are at the top of the list.
For biblically based Christianity it is the fact that scripture defines
homosexuality as one of the few sins that is so disgusting to God that it
figuratively makes him sick. The word associated with homosexuality in the
bible is abomination. Put plainly homosexuality is among one of those sins
named that make God sick to disgust. It is such a departure from God’s
original intention for man that it leaves God disgusted.
A picture of God pleased with mankind with their faith in him and their
love for each other is what the bible says he is looking for. Scriptures
also say that when they deny him and refuse to love each other he is
displeased. A picture of God sick with disgust is a very different
scenario. It is not only hard to imagine such a condition existing in the
Supreme Being but it is even harder to imagine what his response to us
would be if we flaunt it in his face.
Fear is a natural adjunct to reason. It is what makes us look both ways
before we cross the street. Fear is what makes us tell our children not to
go swimming alone. Fear is what makes us read the labels before we take
our medicine. Some fear is not only good but is life preserving.
Speaking out or standing against homosexuality is not necessarily a stand
against anyone including the homosexual individual; it is a stand against
a behavior and the product of that behavior. It is almost impossible for
some individual not to take it personally but personal it is not. It is
often interpreted as hatred as seen in the recent remarks of singer Elton
John.
Fear does not always translate into hatred. Most people have a healthy
fear of lions or alligators. We fear what they may do to us and if we have
two cents worth of common sense we ought to fear them in that way. Yet I
can’t remember one person in my lifetime ever speaking of their hatred of
lions or expressing unbridled vitriol about alligators.
Having God’s favor removed from a nation is a serious consequence and even
worse is the promise of judgment on a nation. That sounds like a pretty
legitimate thing to be fearful of to most reasonable men.
Fearing the byproduct of a particular behavior does not translate into
hatred for those involved in a particular pattern of behavior. It is,
however, a part of that healthy behavior that warns our children to look
both ways before crossing the street. We don’t hate drivers, we aren’t
gripped with autophobia, rather it is our love of our children that urges
us to warn them.
In the most tangible way the fear of unbridled homosexuality is connected
at the hip to patriotism. A power greater than our government says our
country won’t stand on freedom alone but it must be predicated on
righteousness as well. What fool would want to see his own native land
fall into judgment?
Constructive and useful fears are what keep our world together. We fear
the use of nuclear weapons because it threatens our very existence. There
is little difference between that and looking both ways before crossing
the street. Microcosmic or macrocosmic the product is the same. Fear is
what tempers reason and actually guides our conscience in matters of life
and death.
No one has ever been ashamed of the fear of falling when they are hanging
on the ledge of a twenty story building by their finger tips. Christians
and reasonable men everywhere need not be ashamed of what they perceive to
be a threat to the future of their own homeland.
In a country where everyone is allowed to voice their opinions and
heartfelt convictions, whose opinion must we strike down and refuse
without regard? The homosexual is of the opinion that they may be a female
trapped in a male body. The average Joe may be of the opinion that the
homosexual has a silly notion that he is a women trapped in an empty head.
The Christian is of the opinion that the bible is true and the homosexual
has a devil trapped in a reprobate heart.
Even as we are debating, and laboring to find what the best course of
action is regarding our various views we can be thankful that we live in a
land that all people can hold their opinions without being killed for
them. Our lawmakers are of the opinion that no one should die or be jailed
for their opinion. So far that is still what America is all about.
What is not so clear anymore is why individuals must undergo social
contempt for voicing their negative opinions on homosexuality. Since there
is no law against it then all that is left to answer that question is that
it may be political correctness or popular opinion. Since both of these
are merely a kind of adult peer pressure we can be thankful that until it
becomes law we can still speak out…if we have the nerve and stamina to do
so.
Roosevelt never mentioned that fear tends to beget fear. Being a statesman
didn’t qualify him to analyze helpful fear from other fear. The homophobic
fears what the gays will do to their communities or their country. The
gays fear the fear of the homophobic and now everyone must fear what,
where and when we so much as mention our feelings and views on the
subject. The error is never noticed.
The error is that the only group that is credited at all for dealing with
the fear is the homosexual. They are said to be individually and
collectively brave for finally coming out of the closet. This imbalance is
overlooked giving rise to yet other fears like, what’s next? Will their
come a time when we will say it’s ok to have relations with minors or kill
prostitutes or…ad infinitum. Somehow it seems hard to answer all of this
with anything other than a call to get this thing in balance. Fear doesn’t
spell hatred and fear is an integral part of good reason.
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